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Saturday, November 28

A brief history of Halo: The Story Explained

A brief history of Halo

The story of Halo is no fairy tale set in a Castle that needs protection from a marauding dragon. It is, however, a monster of a tale spanning the length of the universe from Earth to places with strange names like Onyx. Many fans might know Halo only through the Xbox games, others may have expanded their knowledge from reading the books, graphic novels and the Halo Encyclopedia. Halo Waypoint has handily put together a brief history of Halo for anyone who might just be a little curious about what’s actually going on as sometimes even in the games it’s not clear!

Long before humanity shed its own earthly shackles, an ancient race known as the Forerunners had already mastered control of the heavens. Using their technology they took it upon themselves to protect all life in the galaxy. But when a dark threat emerged from the blackness beyond the galaxy’s stars, the Forerunners surprisingly were caught off guard.

The Flood, a parasitic alien species that propagates itself by infecting sentient beings, had already infested a variety of worlds within the Milky Way galaxy. By the time the Forerunners took action against the Flood, it was too late; the Flood had already surpassed any efforts at containment offered.

Fearing all in the galaxy would be lost forever to the Flood, a group of Forerunners developed a plan to stop the parasite once and for all. They called this plan Halo. Using a massive installation known as the Ark, they built seven ring worlds, which they spread throughout the galaxy as a defensive mechanism. This Halo Array, as they called it, when fired, would destroy all sentient beings within range, effectively starving the Flood to death as there would be nothing left for it to use to spread.

Then, after staying the hand of judgment as long as they could, the Forerunners finally fired the rings and seemingly vanished from existence to never be heard of again. The knowledge surrounding the Halo Array and its use and as well as the Ark was lost for a time. All that remained was the hope that someone, somewhere in the distant future, would discover the truth.

One hundred thousand years later, humankind finally turned its eyes to the stars. But even after developing the technology of Slipspace travel, which allowed them to colonize distant worlds, they failed to learn from their own primitive nature, they went too far, too quick.

Not long after humans built other worlds to inhabit, they began to war with each other. A powerful governing body known as the United Nations Space Command (UNSC) attempted to quell any insurrectionist factions, but there seemed to be nothing that could halt the mounting tide of violence between mankind.

It was then that an agency known as the Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI) commissioned the SPARTAN-II project. This extreme measure sanctioned the abduction of young children who would be genetically engineered into the most advanced supersoldiers humanity had ever seen. And for a time, this solution worked flawlessly, the Spartans meted out swift, almost merciless, judgment against any who resisted the orders of United Nations Space Command.

But in 2525 CE, all of that changed.

Without warning, the Outer Colony of Harvest was obliterated by an unknown force, a force that would later reveal itself as the Covenant. This alliance of alien species believed humanity was a stain that needed to be wiped from the galaxy, and they committed themselves to this belief without any mercy and proved ruthless in doing so.

Extinguishing every human population they could find, the Covenant were consumed with humankind's total and complete annihilation. However, despite being greatly outnumbered, the Spartans engaged the alien enemy in groundside conflicts, frustrating the Covenant’s advancement every step of the way. Ultimately, each terrestrial victory proved insignificant, since the Covenant dominated space battles without contest.

Still, it wasn't until they attacked the planet of Reach, Earth's veritable doorstep on the brink of humanity’s extinction, that these legendary Spartans fell.

Fleeing into Slipspace at a seemingly random vector, a UNSC warship brought with it what was believed to be the last remaining Spartan, the enigmatic Master Chief, John 117. As they arrived in a remote, uncharted region of the galaxy, they suddenly came face to face with something they had never before seen —Halo.

This discovery was marred when the Covenant, having realised the installation's supposed worth to them, they attempted to activate the ring to fulfill their specious prophecies, and mistakenly released a strain of the Flood that had been contained within the installation for a hundred thousand years.

In response, the Master Chief was motivated to uncover the secrets of the Forerunners' extinction and a deploy stratagem to prevent the parasite from escaping. With the fate of the galaxy hanging in the balance, he destroyed Halo with the help of his AI Cortana, ending the vast threat it possessed and destroying the Flood's infestation along with it.

Ignorant (seemingly by choice) to the truth of the Halo Array’s purpose, the Covenant continued their quest and soon located yet another ring. When they failed to fire it, a chain reaction of events occurred that opened a portal on the planet Earth. This portal would lead any who entered to the Forerunners' most precious installation, the Ark, the only place where the Halo rings could now be fired.

It was here that humanity formed an unlikely alliance with a faction of Covenant defectors known as Elites, and together they assaulted the Ark. With the last vestige of Covenant forces attempting to activate the Halo Array, the Master Chief raced to the surface of a remote ring world, igniting its fire and obliterating both his adversaries and the Ark in the process.

For the survivors on Earth, the Master Chief is believed to have been killed, sacrificed to prevent humanity’s extinction. Little do they know, the Spartan and Cortana miraculously survived the destruction of the Ark and is now stranded in an unknown region of space without any way home but seemingly headed towards an as yet unidentified planet....

That's the short version of the story any way. The Halo universe is full of many stories told from different point of views e.g. ODST. Some of the stories are impossible, others are incorporated into the xbox games. However you take your Halo, you can be sure it's almost as tasty in a different version! *

The inspiration for this Halo story time line was Halo Waypoint. The text is mostly from that site, with some edits from myself. The pictures are from the various Halo games, some promo shots, others in game scenes.